Advantage
by the.goal.is.greatness
Summary: Beauty is power; a smile is its sword. [Sesshomaru x OC]


**Title:** Advantage  
**Genre:** Romance / Drama  
**Rating:** K+  
**Pairing:** Sesshomaru x OC  
**Spoilers:** N/A  
**Summary:** Beauty is power; a smile is its sword.  
**Word Count:** 2,454  
**Warnings:** Takes sometime before the happenings of _Inuyasha_. Sesshomaru is fairly young here.

**Disclaimer:** Not mine. _Inuyasha_ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Summary is a quote by John Ray.

**A/N:** Need more Sesshomaru in my life.

* * *

There are times in his life when the tediousness of daily life becomes too monotonous, too regular, too humdrum, and he would long for the huge tracks of Western Lands spread before him, with nothing holding him back. To travel his kingdom, no one questioning his motives or whereabouts or plans. To see and learn and fight and become more powerful than even his father.

"Sesshomaru! Pay attention!"

The young lord turns at his mother's sharp voice. He does not take the tone personal. His mother is very beautiful, but there are many demoness' here, and human women, too. And his father has a wandering eye and has never been discerning about his choice of bedpartners. "Yes, mother."

She sighs, expression softening. "Sesshomaru…" She gazes out at the room, elegantly dressed lords and ladies flitting around, the women like butterflies, the men like peacocks – vain and showy. "I know that this is not what you are accustomed to."

He snorts. "It is all I am accustomed to mother." He shifts almost imperceptibly in his seat to face her more fully. "Or have you forgotten that this is what I train to do day in and day out so I do not embarrass father at any of his state functions?"

When his mother smiles, it is as slow and beautiful as a languid sunrise. She reaches out one long-fingered, elegant hands to brush an errant strand of hair back behind his ear. "In your heart, my son." She cups his cheek and chin with her palm, the only person he would allow such a liberty. "In your heart you are traveling the world, free of this monotony and governing."

"Mother – " He does not know what to say. He is sorry? He is heir to the Western Lands, he should be vastly interested in affairs of state. But demons never change. The borders of the lords and ladies never waver. It is only out in the forests and fields where one can protect his lands from the weak-minded and mindless masses, that he feels like he could do his duty.

"You do not have to say anything to me, child." With a graceful, sinuous motion, she shifts away from him, back to the room. "When I married your father, I knew I was giving up any chance at a life of freedom. But you are his son, his heir, the most important person to his kingdom. You have the chance to do more, if you wish it."

"Father will never let –"

The noise his mother makes, a soft snort, isn't regal or dignified, but it gets her point across. "You leave your father to me. By morning he will have tired of whichever woman he chose to grace his presence and he will come back to me, apologetic and resplendent in his misery." She smiles, slow and secretive. "He would deny me nothing then."

Without thought, his eyes trail over to his father, where he is laughing, loud and boisterous at something a sloe-eyed serving woman at said to him. "You should not put up with this, mother."

She shrugs one elegant shoulder. "I am accustomed to it." She suddenly looks faraway and sad. "But it would please your mother greatly to never see your own wife so accustomed."

"Mother-"

With a small shake, she is once again herself, and turns to him with a majestic smile. "No, no, no, none of that, my son. Go mingle, Sesshomaru. Meet someone." Her smile softens. "Enjoy your night."

He doesn't blush at the insinuation, but it is close.

* * *

Mingling is not something that comes naturally to him, not like swordsmanship or politics. Smalltalk is never something he mastered, the ease with which his father seems to fall into conversation is a mindboggling concept to him. He does not care about the mindless chattering questions and it shows.

"You look like you're at a funeral."

He turns at the improper comment he is sure is directed at him, to see a demoness leaning against the wall beside him. She is beautiful as all demoness' are. Her hair is a deep ebony black, the strands falling around her face and shoulders like lines of spilled ink. Her eyes are cerulean pools lined with kohl; they are alight with impishness. Unlike the vast majority of other demoness' here whose lips were painted in severe lines of red or burgundy, hers were clean of any adornment. And they were tilted at him in an elfin smile.

"I beg your pardon?"

That smile widens and he is fascinated by the dimples it reveals. "You don't have to beg, Lord Sesshomaru." She laughs gaily at his expression; her head is thrown back, the movement joyous and real. She is still chuckling as she curtseys at him. "I'm Akiko, my lord." Though her head is tilted downward, he can still see the dimples on the side of her cheeks.

He doesn't know what to say. When he pulls his eyes away from her, they happen to meet his mother's across the room. His mother is smiling at him in encouragement. When she tilts her head at the girl and arches a brow, he blusters, steps backs, trips on the hem of his trailing clothing, stops abruptly.

Akiko glances up at him, arching a brow at him in a parallel of his mother. "I'll leave you to your musing, my lord." She stands and saunters off. But she is still smiling.

* * *

Two months later and it is his mother hosting a blossom viewing garden party. She says it is a perfect opportunity to be outdoors and not suffer through another stuffy, drool, political luncheon, but Sesshomaru is not an idiot. There are four females her to every male. He knows what this really is: a way for his mother to let unattached females throw themselves at him. It is worse than the balls. So it was barely an hour into the day that he manages to slink around one of the large cherry blossom trees that especially is full of blooms and is suddenly, and gratifyingly, out of sight of the masses of females. He sighs in relief, feeling himself relax the more the sounds of chatter and giggles fade.

"Trying to avoid the hoard of females, my lord?"

He almost draws his sword, the voice startles him so. But it Akiko again, sitting beneath a cherry tree, looking as serene and pastel as a painting, in her gown of ivory and silver. The petals are falling around her like flowered rain. He would believe it were contrived to attract his attention it is so posed and precise, but there is nothing graceful about the way she is sprawled on the ground – her legs akimbo, her skirts wrinkled and unkempt, her hair frizzing. She had clearly escaped the hoard also.

Sesshomaru nods at her, his head tilting as he looks at her. "And what brings you here, Lady Akiko?"

She snorts, unladylike. "My father." Her impish smile is back. "And you, of course, my lord." He starts at that, and every retort dies before it reaches his lips. She laughs at whatever expression is on his face. "My father wants me to fling myself at you as the others do." He knows he is frowning at that statement and her laugh morphs into a soft smile. "Don't worry, my lord, I have no wish to make a fool of myself. I'm quite enjoying all of these fancy parties on my own."

As he stares at her, the wheels in his head begin to form a plan. "Lady Akiko, how would you like to make a deal?"

* * *

It is so, so easy to fool everyone that it is almost sad. His father wants him to interact with the members of the court more. His mother wants him to spend more time with females his own age. Akiko's father wants her to woo Sesshomaru. So they fake it. They spend each mind-numbingly boring event in each other's company. Her dance card is filled with her name. She is invited to private events. Their parents are thrilled.

But in actuality, it is not romance that is their goal.

Every private outing she accompanies him on is just another excuse for Sesshomaru to wander the breadth and width of his future lands without complaint from his father or advisors. Akiko doesn't mind – it is silence for her, silence from her parents who want her to climb higher, silence from other women who only think about attracting a powerful mate. It is silence to be herself.

It is weeks of this – months – before there is a feeling of… anticipation?... about her visits that has nothing at all to do with the wanderlust he feels to travel and something that has more to do with the look in Akiko's eyes when he shows her something about the Western Lands. It is the way they light up like blue fire when he shows her something new – not faked or feigned like other ladies would, but honest interest in what he is showing her. It is… unnerving.

And now when she walks into the great entrance of his castle to meet him, and her eyes light up in delight, it makes his stomach clench like it does before a battle – half excitement, half terror.

"My Lord!" She calls out to him as easily as if they had known one another all their lives, and glides over to him. Under the watchful eye of her parents, she dips into a graceful curtsey. It is perfectly elegant and proper. But, with them behind her and unable to see her face, she flicks her eyes up to him, playful and teasing. "Sesshomaru." And the sound of his name playfully on her lips as she looks up at him, all ease and fire and friendship and more – and suddenly the feeling in his stomach is vise-like around his heart and he can't breathe, can't answer, can only nod at her and hope it is answer enough.

* * *

Their walk is stilted, strained, even he can feel the tension that is oozing off of him for a reason he cannot name, cannot stop. It is winding Akiko into a knot of nervousness, he knows, but he is afraid that if he opens his mouth to consol her he will say something he doesn't mean to.

"Okay, _what_ is your problem?" She jerks to an abrupt and immediate halt, spinning to face him, her eyes flashing, her mouth a determined line. "You've barely said ten words to me the entire time we've been out here! Have I offended you in some way? Have I – " Here she stammers for a moment, eyes unsure. "Have you had enough of this partnership?"

He is growling suddenly, and the sound is as startling to him as it is to her. Sesshomaru can sense the moment she thinks he is angry with it, can feel the red seeping into his eyes, can feel his beast clambering inside of his skin, but he doesn't know how to stop it. He has never lost control before, never had to force away the change. When she takes a partial step backwards, he grabs her before he can even feel the thought form. "No." She blinks at him, at the guttural and unnatural sound of his voice. He tries again. "No, I have not _had enough_ of this." She frowns. "I have not even _begun._" And though he has not planned for this, has barely even allowed himself to think about it since the first moment he realized he enjoyed her company, it is as natural as breathing to lean down and capture her lips.

She stiffens in surprise, but it is only for the briefest moment, and then she relaxes into him with a sigh and it is the most perfectly aligned moment in his young life. The growl bubbling in his throat softens until it is a rumbling purr, roiling in his chest that is suddenly free from the tension that had been plaguing him for weeks. The grip he has on her wrists loosens and vanishes when he trails his arms around her, pulling her flush against him, closer, and closer still. Her hands on fisted in his haori and she whines low in her throat. It is a needy, pleased sound and it zings through him like a sword strike. His hands twine in his hair as he lets his mouth trail from her to nip and lave a path to her throat, where he worries a mark, arching into her as she pants in his ear and writhes in his arms. He has the mad desire to make her do more of both right here in the forest, but it only by a single strand of chivalry that he doesn't act upon that thought.

"Sesshomaru…"

The rumbling purr in his chest deepens in satisfaction at his name on her lips. How had he not realized sooner how gratifying it was to hear her say his name. He can feel the deep contentedness coming from his beast, a soothing presence in an ache he never noticed that he had. When he nuzzles behind her ear, he lets loose a questioning sound.

She giggles at the feeling and the vibration tingles against him, until he pulls back, not very far, and stares into her eyes. His are half-lidded with satisfaction. Hers are glowing like blue fire, happy and surprised and pleased. She is smiling, soft and easy, up at him.

"What is so amusing, woman?" He gives the cheek before him another nuzzle to ease any potential sting in his words.

"I'm just imaging trying to explain to my mother that this was all a joke at the beginning." He hums to let her know that he hears her, but he couldn't honestly care what she told her mother. "The ladies will be so heartbroken to hear that you're taken now." It's her turn to purr as he laves at her collarbone. "But how shall I tell them I won you?" She asks teasingly.

He pulls back just far enough to kiss her again. "Why don't you tell them the truth?" He presses a kiss to each corner of her mouth. "Tell that you won me with a smile."


End file.
